When some body talks about one India a question may be asked as to why we should talk about one India in twenty first century when we have completed more than sixty five years of our independence and emerged as a major player in global affairs and proved our capability as a space and nuclear power.
I recall that late Shri K.R.Narayanan while serving as the Vice Chancellor of JNU in 1978 delivered a lecture on Indian Unity. He asked a question as to why we should talk of Indian Unity thirty one years after independence.
Answering that question he said that unity of India was always fragile and it needs to be talked about and forged and strengthened on a recurring basis. Dr B R Ambedkar in his last speech in the Constituent Assembly very appropriately observed that the more we realized that we are not a nation the more we would work for making it a nation.
Such believe that we should ceaselessly work for creating Indian nation and, that to one India, struck me more forcefully today morning when I read an insightful article on Race Question in the USA by Nicholos Kristof published in the New York Times. It referred to a report prepared in the USA,on the instructions of President Clinton in 1998, on ONE AMERICA.
So when attempts are being being made to create ONE AMERICA for twenty first century even as America is hailed as the oldest democracy and is the most powerful nation in the world, then we need to talk about one India. I read the Executive Summary of the Report on "One America in the Twenty First Century" .
I keep thinking If USA is trying to forge One America in twenty first century then what about we Indians who face severe challenges on a day to day basis to our unity both internally and externally.
While the report on One America observes that there is strength in diversity and the greatest challenge facing Americans is to accept and take pride in defining themselves as a multiculral democracy, we in India are a multicultural democracy and of course a multiculral civilization since thousands of years when America was not even conceived.
So let us take pride in our numerous accomplishments in terms of our civilizational identity which America could achieve partially in over two hundred years and focus attention on One India which faces multiple pressures on its unity and diversity and above all on its secularism. Let us celebrate one India and enrich and celebrate its diversities.
# The author was OSD and Press Secretary to the late President of India Shri K.R.Narayanan and served as Director in the Prime Minister's Office. He is currently Joint Secretary in the Rajya Sabha Secretariat. The views expressed by the author are his personal.
